Month: May 2012

Finally! I was trying to make that happen like ages now. Well made TS stripboard is really hard to design, specially to me. It isn’t possible to make one without jumpers (as well as most IC based FX’s). For some reasons I don’t like jumpers, so all my entries to design it was instantly trashed. The other main reason is… well… I hate OD/Distortions in general, I’m a booster/fuzz bloke. Tubescreamer is a part of music history, almost as much iconic as all well known and loved users by over last 30 years, on top with my personal hero SRV!

Anyway… It’s done now, and I do quite like it. I couldn’t get away with jumpers (I use 0-ohm resistors instead) but it’s still quite nice. Doing this I had couple purposes in mind. Firstly – all none polarized caps at 5mm raster (two stripboard rows) and Panasonic SMF’s as a type of my choice. 100uF and 47uF’s the same – 5mm raster. Why so big? AM Silver Modded TS uses Sanyo OsCon type caps, and those values I have are 5mm raster. The other E-Cap (10uF) is 2,5mm radial, so standard stuff here.

What else… ah, yeah! The size 🙂 Will easily fit into small B sized Hammond (or similar) enclosure. I was going to make it for 125B really, it’s similar size to real TS-9, that’s why my layout shows ins and outs in upper position, nor side located. I’ll go with 125B anyway, as I have some evil plans for this project. Of course I won’t shy to show of.

Few more things needs to point out:

– Transistors. Originally seen 2SC1815 low quality noisy Q’s was changed to accommodate more ordinary pinout wise, and better quality in general 2N4401 transistors for in/out buffers, as recommended by GGG instructions.

– Optional Clipping Diode Switch pads are shown for future project extension, but you can easily crank yourself what it is, and what it does

– One none original part to standard TS series in input pull-down (anti-pop) resistor (2M2)

Welcome to new section. Since t.org shows at least few projects based on good-ol Fuzz Face I decided to keep them all in one room. This is also good time to look at them again – correcting possible errors and update with new info.

Firstly – let’s look atDunlop EJ-F1 Eric Johnson Fuzz Face. Attached project is based on 0,1″ pitch perfboard layout done at one point by Electric Warrior, with specific components added to match EJ-F1 spec, full off-board wiring as usual, no shielded wire, just like in real one.

So what we have here is basically standard Fuzz Face spec, originally Q2 resistor is paired with trimmer to set quite cold bias at 3v range. I decided to do it as an fixed bias for layout simplify and vintage look of sake of it. Just set the bias with potentiometer, pick the closest value resistor from your stash and solder it in.

What we also see here is small value capacitors between transistors Collector and Base. In traced unit at Freestompboxes there is only Q2 limiting cap, SMD type, no marking visible, but it shouldn’t be big. Our B.man have one coming soon, so as soon as we get the correct info, let’s say it’s about 39pF. For Q1 there is no cap, but there is a place for one, perhaps in later issues, when/if/in case if Dunlop will use hotter transistors for Q1 this cap will be there, at this point with recommended transistor pair omit the fucker.

Lastly, we have small value 27R resistor in line with 15uF cap to prevent squealing and few shifts in component values making this unit unique. Give it a try!

Another project is is made for 0,15″ pitch veroboard. It’s classicDallas Arbiter silicon BC183L Fuzz Face. First Si transistor issue. Wide space vero I did is still small enough to be fit into Hammond B style enclosure. No mods, no fucking around, just a plain and simple silicon Fuzz Face we all love, and hate…

What we see here is slightly twicked (to JBF3 spec) Fuzz Face circuit with Q2 collector autobias. How cool is that?

Few notes:– Draw designed to accommodate C-E-B short leg transistors as I have quite large stash of old Russian Ge’s with that pinout. It shouldn’t be a problem since most ge’s are long legged, you can bend them as you wish…– It’s not exact RockFace schematic take. 100n in John’s is 10n in my layout, 47uF cap from mid lug fuzz pot to V+ is standard 22uF in mine. I’ve added 10R anti-squeal resistor in line with that 22uF, as known in Dunlop JHF3 Fuzz Face. Pot values are also taken from new-ish Dunlop FF’s– Triple checked – not verified

Small enough to be fit into B sized Hammond enclosure, I’ve draw it with 0,1″ pitch stripboard in mind

Power Boost was recently reissued by Macari’s with Castledine Electronics colaboration

Transistor info: Factory schemo shows BC109C’s but AFAIK those ware never seen in reality. What we see usually is BC169B’s or BC349B (and mix of both) in vintage units, and reissues with BC184L (also seen in vintage Powerboost) or BC184C. Use any NPN Silicon’s with similar spec.

Big hug and high fife to monkeyxx from FSB forum for cool mod ideas.

What you get below is two versions of Power Boost named as Early, and Later spec, and an Overdriver. Another three docs contains the same shit, but in different flavor as per monkeyxx instructions – added master volume control, changed drive pot taper.